A high-profile Sky Bet ad campaign has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for not making it sufficiently clear punters had to wager £5 a week to receive a free bet of the equivalent amount.
The TV component of the campaign included a grid with one box stating “£10 FREE BET” and 29 others containing the text “£5 FREE BET”, complete with a voice-over which invited new players without a SkyBet/Poker/Vegas/Bingo account to “Claim £10 completely free plus £5 free every week until the end of the season”. Accompanying on-screen text stipulated that punters had to “Stake £5 weekly to qualify for £5 weekly free bet until end of football season”.
The complaint challenged Sky Bet had not made it clear enough that players signing up to receive the offer had to stake £5 each and every week to receive the free bets.
Sky Bet defended itself by saying it was standard industry practice for promotions to incorporate minimum staking amounts in order to qualify for free bets, and this was no exception. It also pointed out that its TV ad had gone above and beyond the usual practice of simply informing viewers of hte ads that “Terms and Conditions apply”, explicitly explaining on screen that customers must “Stake £5 weekly to qualify for £5 weekly free bet until end of the football season”, deliberately clarifying a significant term of the offer in order not to mislead and comply with advertising codes.
While the ASA accepted that the additional on-screen wording had been adequate to qualify the claim, it conclude this should have appeared at the same time as the voice-over and screen images offering the free bets. It also decided that the requirement for punters to stake £5 each and every week until the end of the season to receive the free bets (10 weeks at the time the complaint was made) was “so significant”, this should also have been made clear on screen.
The ASA ruled the TV ad and its accompanying banner ads on the Sky Bet website were misleading and should not appear again in their current form.
A similarly widely aired TV ad by Malta-licensed Betway, featuring a man and woman transforming domestic appliances such as a fridge, taps and a table cloth into various forms of gambling such as slots and roulette, however fared rather better, the ASA disagreeing with a complaint that the ad was irresponsible for prioritising gambling over everyday activities.
Article written by Stephen Carter
